The Gans Grizzlies not only got their first wins of the season but brought home some tournament hardware.
The Grizzlies defeated McCurtain 45-32 to win the consolation championship of the Nadine Carpenter Invitational, which took place Thursday through Saturday at Leflore High School’s Nadine Carpenter Memorial Gymnasium.
The Grizzlies, who entered this week on a two-game winning streak, defeated the host Leflore Savages 51-44 in Friday afternoon’s consolation
The Lady Grizzlies, who were not at full strength, fell 65-61 to the Keota Lady Lions in Saturday afternoon’s consolation championship after splitting their first two games of the tournament as they saw their three-game winning streak come to an end Thursday afternoon with a 57-35 loss to the McCurtain Lady Bulldogs but bounced back to down the host Leflore Lady Savages 40-32 on Friday afternoon In the boys’ consolation title game, the Grizzlies (2-6) jumped out to a 16-5 lead after a quarter en route to a 26-16 halftime advantage and a 37-23 lead after three periods.
For the game, Austin Hines led Gans with 23 points, followed by Bryce Stephens with nine points, Aiden Garcia with six points, Eli Blackmon with four points and Preston Ben-nett with three points.
In the boys’ consolation semifinals, trailing 34-24 at halftime, the Grizzlies outscored the Savages 27-10 in the second half to get the comeback win.
For the game, Hines scored a game-high 24 points to lead Gans, followed by Stevens with 10 points, Jessie Phillips with eight points, Garcia with four points, Bennett with three points and Blackmon with two points.
In the boys’ openinground loss to Wister, the Wildcats jumped out to a 17-6 lead after a quarter en route to a 3512 halftime lead to put away the game.
In defeat, Stevens led Gans with six points, followed by Garcia with four points and Hines, Blackmon and Jasper Green with two points apiece.
In the girls’ consolation title game, trailing 52-51 after three quarters, the Lady Lions outscored the Lady Grizzlies 14-9 in the final period to snatch away the win from the jaws of defeat.
In defeat, Skilynn Bird scored a game-high 25 points, while Valan Harper added 20 points to lead Gans. Nora Barnes scored 14 points, while Brighton Dorsey added two points.
In the girls’ consolation semifinals, the Lady Grizzlies (4-4) doubled the Lady Savages 10-5 in the first quarter en route to a 22-18 halftime lead and a 34-26 advantage after three periods.
For the game, Bird led all scorers with a gamehigh 13 points, followed by Barnes and Harper with nine points each, Yesenia Gaona with three points and Dorsey, Abigail Leach and Taylor Barger with two points apiece.
In the girls’ openinground loss to McCurtain, the Lady Bulldogs got out to a 16-9 lead after a period, which became a 32-15 halftime advantage and a 41-24 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
In defeat, Bird led Gans with 15 points, followed by Barnes with seven points, Dorsey with five points, Harper with four points and Amarys White and Makenzy Hunter with two points apiece.
The tournament wrapped up a busy week of hoops for the Gans squads, who split their home games with Cameron on Dec. 8 at Bryant “Big Country” Reeves Fieldhouse as the Lady Grizzlies won 49-31 and the Grizzlies lost 61-37.
On Dec. 9 at Neil Brannon Gymnasium, the Gans teams split their Riverside Conference games with the host Arkoma squads, with the Lady Grizzlies winning 41-26 but the Grizzlies losing 47-31.
In the girls’ win over Cameron, the Lady Grizzlies jumped out to a 13-2 lead after a quarter and were never headed.
For the game, Gans put a trio of players into double figures, led by a game-high 17 points by Barnes, followed by Madi Pilkington and Bird with 11 points apiece. Harper scored six points, while Dorsey added four points.
In the girls’ victory over Arkoma, the Lady Grizzlies jumped out to a 16-6 lead after a quarter en route to a 27-15 halftime advantage and a 37-17 lead going into the final period.
For the game, Barnes scored a game-high 17 points and Bird added 16 points to lead Gans, while Dorsey and Harper added four points apiece.
In the boys’ loss to Cameron, the Yellowjackets got out to a 15-7 lead after a quarter en route to a 30-16 halftime advantage and a 41-26 lead going into the final period.
In defeat, Stevens led the Grizzlies with 19 points, followed by Phillips with nine points, Hines with five points and Bennett and Preston Moore with two points apiece.
In the boys’ loss to Arkoma, the Mustangs enjoyed a 16-7 lead after a period en route to a 22-13 advantage at halftime. The Grizzlies rallied in the third quarter, outscoring the Mustangs 9-8 in the period, to cut their deficit to 30-22 heading into the fourth quarter. However, a 17-9 final period for Arkoma sealed the deal.
In defeat, Hines led Gans with eight points, followed by Phillips with seven points, Stevens with five points, Garcia with three points and Blackmon, Green, Bennett and Michael Christopherson with two points apiece.
